My Wicked Valentine (Club Wicked 1) (4 page)

“Just so you know, your time at the club will be as a
bartender instead of a guest.”

She felt strangely disappointed. Not that she’d really
wanted him to whisk her off into the night and do bad things with her, but
bartending seemed so normal.

“Oh, okay.”

“It’s only because you have to pass a background check
before you can get into the private areas of the club. Plus I thought it might
be better to take things slowly to give you time to adjust to the water before
I threw you into the deep end.”

“I feel like I’m already in the deep end, and it’s filled
with sharks.”

He laughed, and the knot in her stomach loosened a bit.
“Don’t worry. I don’t bite.”

She flushed and tapped her foot against the floor. “I
appreciate that. If I may ask, now that we’re working together, why are you
going to all this effort to get me to work for you? Surely there is someone who
does both event planning and knows BDSM.”

He sighed. “Mrs. Florentine, your business mentor and
co-owner of Wicked, fancies herself a bit of a matchmaker. I fear her
intentions on sending you to me weren’t only professional but personal as well.
It wouldn’t hurt my chances at becoming a member of Wicked’s board of directors
if the wife of the chairman of the board is happy with me.”

She groaned and covered her face with her hands.
“Matchmaking? I should have known something was up. Mrs. Florentine is always
harping on me to balance work with pleasure and get a boyfriend.” She pulled
her hands away with a horrified expression. “Oh God, Mrs. Florentine belongs to
your club! Please tell me I won’t have to watch her have sex.”

He busted out laughing. “Oh hell no. While we do have some
exhibitionists and voyeur members, most of our members prefer to keep their
sexual escapades confined to our private theme rooms. For which I am very
thankful.” His voice lowered, and her panties got wet—well, wetter. “The most I
will do in public is kiss my submissive. All of her charms, all of her beauty
belongs to me.”

She nervously licked her lips and became distracted by
thoughts of kissing him. “When do we start?”

“Are you free all night? It takes a bit to get to the club,
and I want to spend enough time with you there that you get a good feel for
it.”

“Yes.” She’d have to bribe her sister to take her shift at
the restaurant, but it would be well worth it to see Isaac again. No, wait, not
see Isaac. She was excited to see the club where she’d finally get her big
break.

That excuse sounded as flimsy as public restroom toilet
paper even to her.

“This will of course be paid training to compensate you for
your time. I’m going to e-mail over a bunch of forms. Do you think you can get
them filled out by five p.m.?”

“What type of forms?”

“Standard nondisclosure forms. You don’t really think the
most powerful people in DC would attend a BDSM club without some type of
protection? The last thing a senator wants to see is a video of his naked ass
being flogged by a dominatrix on YouTube. It might hurt his reelection
chances.”

She grinned. “That makes sense. Yeah, I’ll fill them out as
soon as I get off the phone with you.”

“I’ve sent my personal assistant instructions on what to get
for an outfit for you. Will you be around later today to accept a delivery?”

“What kind of outfit? And how do you know where I live?”
Visions of cheesy leather strap outfits with her ass hanging out came to mind,
and she winced.

“Don’t worry. You’ll be covered from neck to ankle, and you
will look amazing. I know where you live because I have your application with
your address on it. Will you be at your home tonight?”

She felt silly for being so defensive, but this whole
conversation had thrown her off-kilter. “Why?”

“Because I’m going to pick you up tonight, and it would be
helpful if you were home when I arrive.”

Heat rushed to her cheeks. She thunked her head against the
back of the chair. “That sounds lovely. I mean, yes, I’ll see you then. At my
house, where I’ll be.” Maybe all the blushing had caused brain damage. That’s
why she was babbling.

He coughed, and it sounded suspiciously like a muffled
laugh. “Excellent. How does eight sound to you?”

“That’s fine.” There, she was proud of herself for sounding
once again like the mature professional woman that she was.

“I’ll see you then.”

“Oh, yes. That would be wonderful.” She inwardly groaned at
how breathy and flaky she sounded. Striving to regain her footing, she made
sure her words were calm and even as she said, “Thank you again for this
opportunity, Mr. O’Keefe.”

“Isaac.”

She smiled, and his name rolled off her tongue like honey.
“Isaac.”

Lucia’s best friend, Chloe, grabbed the end of the black bra
dangling from Lucia’s grip and tried to pull it away. “You can’t wear underwear
with that outfit.”

With a growl Lucia tugged the bra back. “I’m not going out
in public without a bra on!”

Chloe jerked the lingerie hard enough so Lucia had to let go
or lose a finger. “You’re right, you’re not going out in public. You’re going
to super awesome sex club, and you get to wear this super awesome—“

“You mean super slutty,” Lucia muttered.

“Outfit,” Chloe finished with a wide smile.

They both looked at the outfit in question lying spread out
on Lucia’s queen-size bed. True to Isaac’s word, he’d sent her a getup that
would cover her from neck to ankle. He hadn’t mentioned it would be a catsuit
made out of skintight black latex.

“How am I even supposed to put this thing on? I’ll need a
bottle of baby oil to slide into it.”

“Actually you need to dust yourself down with baby powder
first.” Chloe tossed back her short blonde hair with an exaggerated movement.
“I do happen to know a bit about BDSM.”

Lucia snorted. “I’m sure all the kindergarten teachers at
your school like it rough.”

Chloe flopped back onto Lucia’s mattress. “One of my old
boyfriends decided to be a condom for Halloween one year. His outfit was made
up of the same stuff as your catsuit, and we had to cover him in baby powder
before he put it on.”

Lucia picked up the sparkly silver waist corset and shook it
at Chloe. “How am I supposed to be able to breathe in this thing?”

“Oh, stop your bitching and put it on already. Your date
will be here soon.”

She shot Chloe a murderous glare and grabbed the catsuit off
the bed. “He’s not my date. He’s my business partner.”

“Sure he is. I Googled him while you were in the shower. He
is panty-melting hot and worth like a bazillion dollars.”

“I’m not—” She gritted her teeth as she almost said
dating
. “I’m not working with him
because of how hot he is or how many steel mills his family owns or how many
times he’s been on Washington, DC’s most-eligible-bachelor list.”

“Six times,” Chloe chirped, then giggled. “So he’s rich,
hot, kinky, and loaded? Girl, if you don’t go after him, you must not have one
working estrogen cell in your body.”

While crossing the length of her small bedroom to her master
bath, Lucia ignored Chloe’s snickers. What could she really say? That Isaac
turned her on more than anyone had in a long time, and the only thing he’d done
was shake her hand? That the idea of going anywhere with him put her hormones
on a low simmer, but the thought of going to a sex club with him lit her libido
on fire?

With a little more effort than necessary, she slammed the
door to the bathroom behind her and tossed the clothing onto her sink. She dug
around the medicine cabinet and found an old bottle of lavender-scented body
powder. After dousing herself in the mixture, she slipped on the smallest
G-string she owned and muttered threats against Chloe when she noticed the bra
was missing.

After some pulling, stretching, and bending, she finally
managed to tug the tight latex suit on all the way and zip up the front.
Thankfully it was lined with a layer of ultrathin fabric on the inside, so it
didn’t pull her skin off as she wiggled everything into place. She actually
liked the way it clung to her, almost making her feel like she was being hugged
all over her body. Taking a deep breath, she turned to look at herself in the
mirror and gaped.

She looked amazing. Well, super slutty, but still amazing.
The catsuit stuck to her body like it was painted on, and she could make out
the slight bumps of her nipples beneath the black latex. On either side a row
of tiny silver rivets ran up her body from her ankle to the inside of her
wrist. The only thing she didn’t like was how the rounded bump of her belly
became more pronounced, but then she remembered the corset. Running a hand down
her slick curves, she opened the door and struck a pose.

“Ta-da!”

Chloe sat up and rubbed her eyes. “Holy moly. You look like
a high-class porn star.”

“Can you help me get into this corset thing, please?”

They both giggled as Chloe helped her cinch her waist into
the corset. “Can you breathe?”

She wheezed in reply.

Her best friend loosened a few laces and stepped back with
her hands on her hips. “You know, this might be a good look for you. With your
waist cinched like that, you have a very 1950s Marilyn Monroe thing going on.
You know, if Marilyn was Hispanic and had a bigger butt.”

She wiggled her butt at Chloe, then looked in the mirror
above her dresser and smiled. “Hair up or down?”

“Up. Let’s give you an
I
Dream of Jeannie
ponytail.”

Chloe pulled her over to the bed and sat her down before
brushing her hair. “You have your cell phone, right? And you’ll call me at any
time to come get you if you’re in trouble?”

“Yes, Mom.”

Chloe jerked her hair up with more force than necessary.
“You never know these days who is going to turn out to be some kind of psycho
killer.”

“Weren’t you the one just listing off his attributes?”

“True. ” Chloe yawned and stretched. “Do you think he likes
to smack some ass or have his ass smacked?”

Lucia snorted and grabbed her black stiletto high heels off
the end table. The five-inch spikes were dangerous territory for most women,
but at five feet three, she’d always worn tall heels to be in the normal height
range for women. “I think he’s the spanker, not the spankee.”

The intercom to her small apartment buzzed, and both women
exchanged an excited look. With Lucia still fumbling with securing the ankle
strap of her shoes, Chloe beat her to the intercom. With a grin she pressed the
Talk button and said in a singsong voice, “Who is it?”

“Isaac O’Keefe.”

Lucia elbowed Chloe away from the intercom. “Come on up. I’m
on the second floor, and my apartment is the last one on the left. There’s a
floral wreath on the door.”

She tried to push Chloe into the guest bathroom, but her
friend managed to wiggle away with a laugh. “Hey! I promise I’ll behave.”

“Just sit on the couch and don’t say a word.”

Chloe bounced onto her small lilac-gray sectional and
pantomimed zipping her lips. After giving her friend one final glare, Lucia
turned to the door and tried to slow down her suddenly hammering heart. Good
Lord, she hadn’t been this worked up about a guy in forever. Maybe it had been
so long since she’d had sex that her body was going to make her have it by
sending out nymphomaniac rushes of hormones.

A knock sounded on the door, and she opened it so quick she
caught Isaac on the other side with his hand still raised. He stared at her
from the top of her head all the way down to her toes and back up again. Then
he smiled, and her nipples hardened into very visible rock-hard buds. Dressed
in another impeccable black suit, this time with a pale silver tie, he looked
like he’d stepped off of some French runway.

“Hey!” Chloe yelled from over her shoulder. “Why isn’t he in
latex? Or better yet, leather pants. Seems only fair if you have to dress up
like BDSM Barbie, he should be your Kinky Ken.”

Lucia gave Isaac a weak smile. “Let me grab my purse and
jacket, and we will be off.”

Isaac’s lips twitched, but he nodded. “Of course.”

Chloe came up behind her and dodged the not so subtle elbow
Lucia threw her way. “Hmm, you are a nice tall drink of water. Love your eyes.
They remind me of a Siberian husky.”

“I’m so sorry about this.” Lucia grabbed her purse from the
table next to the door and jerked her crimson trench coat out of the closet.
“Chloe was dropped on her head at birth, and she used to eat paint chips.”

To Isaac’s credit he didn’t crack a smile. “Poor girl.”

“Indeed. Say good night to the nice gentleman, Chloe.”

Chloe grinned and waved. “Have fun, and remember, if you’re
a psycho and you hurt my friend, I’ll spend the rest of my life hunting you
down.”

With a smile he held his hand out to Chloe, and she placed
her palm in his with a hot blush. Isaac bent and raised Chloe’s hand to his
mouth. He briefly brushed his lips across her skin, and Lucia’s best friend’s
blush went from pink to stop-sign red. “It has been a pleasure meeting you,
Chloe. Lucia is lucky to have a friend who cares so much.”

He released her hand, and Chloe dragged in a deep breath.
“Holy crap, Lucia. I hope you’re on birth control, because this guy is lethal.”

Mortified, Lucia closed the door on a stunned Chloe and
sighed. “Once again, please let me apologize. You know that filter people have
in their head that tells them not to say something? Well, Chloe’s is broken,
and she is way more honest than most people are comfortable with. It makes her
a great kindergarten teacher because she can relate so well to the way kids think,
but it throws most people over four feet tall for a loop.”

“I find her honesty refreshing. The business world is
littered with kiss asses and backstabbers, so hearing someone say what they
think instead of what they think you want them to say is nice.”